LogFAQs > #981282445

Better late than never.

I deliver the notebooks to all classmates. One thing I notice is how back in Zero, we took time to visit each others' rooms and make funny comments about it. Now nobody invites Rean inside except for Elliot and Gaius, and a lot of them just act grumpy at him. This is certainly not a party. Yet.

Heck, even Elliot and Gaius don't have much party chemistry. Especially Gaius.

Time to indulge an important Trails activity. Getting to know all the random townsfolk.

Next one: buying the newspaper and learning the politics of the land. Rean and his friends surely don't give a damn, but they will soon. They always do.

newspaper TL;DR: Osborne's power increasing. Of course.

Then, a fateful encounter happens

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/6fdd15a6.jpg

Rean receives a fishing rod, and is now officially a Trails protagonist

I'm guessing the guy's father is the Lakelord dude who was the Fishing Antagonist in Trails to Azure. So now we see his side of the fishing world

ok so why do I have to do some button mashing to catch fish? Is this Mario Party now?

so its bonding day, but the game doesn't let me bond with everyone. Right now, only Elliot, Laura and Machias are available, and I get to pick 2

I love how every other character in this setting discusses the purposes behind the existance of free days as if they are meant to be special and unique when they are just like, weekends

I forget this is a quasi-medieval world where the concept of days off is probably alien for most of those people

I learn Sara was the one who came up with the idea for the trap door in the prologue. The lady knows the importance of a good set up

if she joined Orobouros we'd all be screwed

I do a bonding scene with laura, where we learn she is an amazing swimmer, and also that Rean thinks shes hot. The game doesn't waste time

I spend at least half an hour looking for a notebook on some sidequest, until I give up and check online. Then I learn it's in a place I had already checked like 5 times, but couldn't see the notebook because the thing is the size of a coin. Nice 3D modelling

I deliver a thing to Mitch, who I remember being the guy from that Carnelia book, way back in Sky

it's the smartass who wrote that Ein Selnate died in the book even though she is alive and giving orders in Trails 3

I also do a bonding scene with Elliot. The scene... exists.

I like it how even the more basic of the status protecting items now raise stats too. Such as silver chain giving +10 to defense. I didn't like how accessories were useless at the start of every Trails game

time to explore the old schoolhouse again. The game introduces the party member selection mechanic, which is necessary because we have a whopping 9 playable characters (and at least one more later, i. e. Sara). But right now, only Elliot and Gaius are available. The more interesting cast members need to be made friends with

Elliot is scared but he is also scared for his friends so hes staying. The power of friendship

You know, those guys are boring, but I like how they all just decided to hang out together. As someone who had a hard time making friends myself (and still do), I value that stuff

so the school's layout changes magically. Fun. Even Crossbell took a while to give us those magical haunted dungeons.

ok so whats up with Rean and his craptastic Evasion? The only party member who ever gets counters is gaius. Rean is a punching bag.

the menu says Rean and Gaius both have 5% evasion but it's lying to me. There has to be something else going on here

ok google says it's Gaius's master quartz that is doing this. figures

back to the principal's room after beating the dungeon, the npcs all but confirm this is some alchemy shit going on. And I thought only the Crossbell games would have that

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b9dfd1fa.jpg

thats the way

I get an extra bonding point... which can only be used with Towa. Hmmm

Towa is good at reading people, and she reads Rean like a book

(which isn't too hard, considering how one-dimensional he is)

she invites him for more tea later. I kind of ship it

actually I guess it could be used on Alisa too? But I missed it

whatever, Towa is more likable

back to the dormitory, Rean is doing cool ninja stuff. Putting down a candle with his sword

then we tune in to the weirdest radio show ever

We then skip to the day of the practical exam

the practical exam is a boss fight. The boss has exactly one attack, an art with small AoE that gets telegraphed before it casts it. easy peasy

that said, it was easy for the PC trio, Rean, Elliot and Gaius. I suspect the others might not have the same easy time

never mind, we skip ahead and apparently everyone passed. Though everyone says it was hard in the cutscene, including the PCs

and now we get sent to do sidequests somewhere else. in two groups. Wonder who is joining the party now

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/34d31173.jpg

Sara knows how it's done

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/23f10e9f.jpg

So we lose Gaius, but get Alisa and Laura. Time for some unneeded tsundere shenanigans, yay!
oh yeah Machias and Jusis in the same group. Damn, I wish I could be in it

I go to the classic quest rewars screen, where I learn Towa is this game's Fran. I'll take it

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/38926b48.jpg

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!

Omg I wantes to see this so much. Not because of the shipping, mind you, but because this whole debacle has way outstayed its welcome

she does get a tsundere-last-word, though, but whatever. No crisis. Let's be friends